About 50 students from Zanesville Middle School got a private tour of the Muskingum County Recycling Center, Friday morning, after receiving a grant to bring recycling into their school.

A teacher of vocational agriculture, Jessica Stonecypher said the school received a $1,500 grant, funded through APE, to purchase bins in order to enact a recycling program in the school.

“We currently recycle paper but we want to expand that and have a more robust program,” Stonecypher. “So, we’ll be able to recycle other items, as well.”

The plan is to adopt the program in the spring when students return from winter break.

Muskingum County Recycling Center Supervisor Mark Schneider thanked the students for their participation and educated them on the basics of what can and cannot be recycled.

Schneider said Zanesville Middle School is the first school he’s aware of that is implementing a recycling program for the students.

He told the middle schoolers that their participation doesn’t only help the environment but it saves resources by cutting down on the number of new products that are made.

“It’s a lot better to recycle than it is to make new products,” Schneider said.

During their visit, Schneider walked the students through the process that recycled items go through at the facility, as well as what happens to the items that can’t be recycled but end up mixed in with recyclables.

“I think they learned a lot about the troubles that we have here with compliance, and the importance of knowing what can and cannot be recycled and about making sure that we follow those guidelines,” Stonecypher said.

Muskingum County Commissioners Cindy Cameron and Mollie Crooks joined the students in their learning about the recycling center Friday morning.

Cameron is in the works of communicating with Muskingum County Court judges in order to get additional help at the center for Schneider and his one employee through court-required community service.

The judges told Cameron they would work toward providing that community service to people in the coming weeks as many people are looking for service opportunities to complete their required hours this time of year, she said.